What Does 2 Chronicles 1:16 Mean in the King James?
And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The language of “going out from Egypt” can name deliverance, yet here what goes out is horses entering the king’s supply chain.
THE MEANING
Royal prosperity becomes tangible: horses come from Egypt, and linen passes through merchants at a price. The verse shows power gathering strength and status through what it imports and purchases. Goods leave a place named for constriction, but their movement alone does not release anyone.
THE ROOT
מִצְרַיִם
Mitsrayim
GROWS FROM
צ־ר־ר
ts-r-r
To bind or press into straits; constriction.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitsrayim. Mitsrayim carries the image of “the two narrows,” a place of constriction. Here goods move out of that narrowness into royal power, while the movement of goods is not itself deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
metsar: A narrow place, strait, or tight spot.
מֵצַר
This related word lets Egypt carry the image of constriction as well as the name of a place.
tsarah: Distress or trouble; being in a tight place.
צָרָה
It shows how the root’s physical image of narrowness extends into the experience of distress.
מוֹצָא
motza
GROWS FROM
י־צ־א
y-ts-ʾ
To go out, come forth, or emerge.
“brought out” in this verse is motza. This root also names the going out from Egypt, yet here the thing going out is horses for the king. The shared language holds both release and commercial movement without making them the same.
ALSO GROWS
yetzi'ah: Going out or an exit.
יְצִיאָה
It keeps the verse’s “brought out” tied to the broader language of departure.
Yetziat Mitsrayim: The going out from Egypt; the Exodus.
יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם
The same root used for Israel’s departure from Egypt describes the horses’ departure here, sharpening the contrast between liberation and trade.
THE PATTERN
What a person or ruler accumulates for security can reveal where that security rests.
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE THREAD
But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.The two verses pair horses with Egypt, making the source of royal strength visible. Deuteronomy places a boundary around that pairing, so the import in Chronicles sits beside a question about what kingship is permitted to gather.
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